Budding shooters, aged below 16 years, from the state have helped Jharkhand retain the title at 34th national sub-junior archery championship, held at Rohtak in Haryana from January 1-6. The victory comes barely two weeks after seasoned marksmen helped the state pocket the title at the senior national championship in Jamshedpur.

At the Rohtak meet, the Jharkhand contingent slotted home 22 medals — 10 gold, eight silver and four bronze — to retain the title. The state had clinched the sub-junior title at the previous edition of the meet, held at Bangalore, too.

“It’s a splendid show by our budding archers. I am very happy with the outcome,” said Jharkhand Archery Association (JAA) working secretary L. Murty.

The state began the proceedings by claiming the Indian round team gold and bronze in the boys’ and girls’ category, respectively.

Among the boys, Binod Swansi of Tata Archery Academy clinched two individual gold medals at 30m and 60m recurve and a bronze in the 70m category. Kamal Kishore of SAI, Ranchi, won a bronze at 50m recurve.

Binod then paired up with Gunjan Kumari, also from the Tata cradle, to claim the gold at the recurve mixed event. Jharkhand eves went on to slot home the recurve team gold as well.

The compound round saw Seraikela-Kharsawan’s Shahenshah Biruily and Silli’s Ajanti Kumari bag individual gold medals. The two later paired to win the silver in the mixed event. Jharkhand also bagged team gold in the boys’ and girls’ category.